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The Magic Roundabout (2020 film)
The Magic Roundabout: The Return of Dougal (also known as The Magic Carousel: Doogal Returns in the United States and Pollux 2020: Le Manège Enchante in France) is an upcoming 2020 French-British-American-Canadian computer-animated adventure comedy fantasy family film based on the television series of the same name created by Serge and Martine Danot and serves as a remake of the 2005 film of the same name (also known as Doogal in the United States). The animation will be produced in the United States by NicThic Cinemation Studios in collaboration with Fredbear Animation Studios’ Computer Graphics Department. The film is scheduled to be released on September 18, 2020, in the United Kingdom and France by Max Andrew Distribution and on October 16, 2020, in the United States and Canada by Fredbear Studios as the first NicThic production to be distributed by them after NicThic was acquired by FBS on January 2, 2020. Plot The film begins as Zebedee, a red jack-in-the-box-like wizard, is having a nightmare about being chased by Zeebad, a rampaging blue jack-in-the-box creature who is Zebedee's evil clone. The film then starts with Dougal, the well-meaning cheeky chappy but slacker dog, sneaking around the roundabout. He goes so far as to place a nail on the road to pop a motorcycle candy cart's tire, thinking to be rewarded for watching the cart. After convincing the driver, who is a baker named Mr. Grimsdale, to leave, Dougal accidentally starts the cart up again and causes it to crash into the titular magic roundabout at the center of the village. Zeebad from Zebedee's nightmare emerges from the top and flies away, followed shortly after by a figure, resembling a British royal guard, that is thrown off the roundabout. The roundabout freezes over, trapping repairman Mr. Rusty, Dougal's young owner Florence, and two other children named Basil and Coral within an icy prison. The villagers, who are all animals, are horrified by this development, and call upon Zebedee for help. He explains that the dark cave room at the roundabout's engine control room underneath the roundabout itself acted as a mystical prison for the evil ice wizard Zeebad. With it broken, Zeebad is free to work his magic on the world again (it is implied he started the first ice age according to the hand-drawn animated flashback sequence). The only way to stop Zeebad's freedom from freezing the world again is by collecting three magic diamonds (one of which is supposed to be hidden on the roundabout, while the other two are hidden at separate locations far beyond the village); placing all three diamonds in their respective slots on the roundabout will re-imprison Zeebad and undo his magic, but if Zeebad retrieves them first then their power will allow him to freeze the Sun itself. Zebedee sends Dougal, Brian the cynical snail, Ermintrude the opera-singing cow, and Dylan the hippie rabbit, to accomplish this mission along with a red anthropomorphic talking train who can be summoned by Zebedee's magic box. Meanwhile, when Zeebad crash-lands after escaping the roundabout, he animates the British royal guard figure from the roundabout, Soldier Sam, to be his henchman and enlists him to find the enchanted diamonds first. Meanwhile, Zebedee's fellowship makes camp in the icy mountains near Zeebad's old lair. Dougal wanders off during the night and is captured by Zeebad. Ermintrude breaks him out of his prison; after a short chase, Zebedee shows up to battle his evil counterpart. Zeebad eventually gains the upper hand, freezing Zebedee and collapsing the cliff on which he stands, presumably killing him. Mourning for their friend, Dougal and his friends embark on a journey to recover the diamonds. This task takes them to a lava-bordered volcano and an ancient temple filled with booby-traps and evil skeleton guards that serve their master, the Skeleton Lord (at which point Dylan reveals an exceptional knowledge of several types of martial arts), but Zeebad captures both of the two diamonds from these respective locations; leaving the gang's only hope of stopping Zeebad from freezing the world in ice to be getting back to the roundabout and to the final diamond before Zeebad does. The gang is forced along the way to leave their train behind when his wheel is broken, leaving them to return to the village on foot on their own through the snowy barren wasteland the world is now freezing into. Zeebad, after having abandoned Soldier Sam to die wounded in the snow, beats the gang to the now-frozen village but is unable to find the third diamond anywhere. Sam then arrives on a moose, having realized he's been following the wrong commander in Zeebad and that his true duty is to protect the roundabout against Zeebad, and tries to make a stand and charge against him but is easily defeated. Having learned Sam was in fact on the roundabout, Zeebad discovers that the third diamond is and always was hidden inside Sam, and removes it from him, ending Sam's life as a result. Just as Dougal and the gang finally make it back to the village, Zeebad, with all three diamonds now in his possession, uses the diamonds to complete his powers' freezing effect on the world by freezing the Sun. However, Ermintrude, Brian, Dylan, and finally Dougal refuse to give up and intervene to stop Zeebad; getting past Zeebad's attacks to the diamonds, and getting each of them one-by-one into their places on the roundabout until only the third diamond is left. Though Zeebad beats the gang to the diamond and seemingly secures his victory, the timely arrival of the now-healed and fully-repaired train knocks the diamond out of Zeebad's reach and gives Dougal the chance to place it in the roundabout's final slot. With all three diamonds placed on the roundabout, Zeebad is reimprisoned, and the world is thawed and turned back to normal; restoring Zebedee to his friends, and freeing the people. Of those who were trapped in the roundabout, Florence is comatose but is revived by an anxious Dougal. The moose (whose color had been changed from brown to blue by Zeebad and helped Dougal's friends find Dougal in the earlier scenes of the film), is restored to his true color by Zebedee. As everyone goes for a ride on the roundabout, they discover it still doesn't work, because Sam is still lifeless. At this point, Sam is restored and then reverted to his inanimate form, and placed back on the roundabout which functions once again. Dougal, who vowed to give up sugar when it seemed all was lost, forgets his former pledge completely, but now realizes the true value of his friends and the good qualities of selflessness, courage, and humility. In a mid-credits scene, Zeebad is back in his prison, which, to his chagrin, is a molten lava cave. In a post-credits scene, Zebedee appears in the black background and delivers his famous catchphrase to the audience, "Time for bed.", before vanishing himself with magic dust. Cast English version *Tom Holland as Dougal, a shaggy dog who is addicted to sugar and candy. He's known to be sarcastic and sometimes rude. However, he does have a soft side as he cares about Florence and his other friends just as much as himself. Dougal is the leader of the group and he believes everything revolves around him. He is the main protagonist of the film. *Emma Watson as Florence, a caring, loving, and sweet human girl who is Dougal's owner. *James Corden as Brian, a snail who has been known to lose his temper. He agrees to everything that Dougal says so he's obviously not the leader of the group. *Matthew Lillard as Dylan, a spacey, lazy, and sleepy rabbit who is the hippie of the group. *Joanna Lumley as Ermintrude, an opera-singing cow who is quite of a diva. *Ian McKellen as Zebedee, the good red jack-in-the-box-like wizard who everyone at the Magic Roundabout asks help for. *Nick Kroll as Zeebad, the evil blue jack-in-the-box-like wizard who is Zebedee's evil clone. He's the main antagonist of the film. *Bill Hader as Soldier Sam, a figure on the Magic Roundabout resembling a British royal guard. **Hader also voices a railroad worker from the train chase scene. *Simon Pegg as Train, a red and blue train who serves as the main transportation for the group. *Seth Rogen as Moose, a moose whose color was changed from brown to blue by Zeebad. *Cory Edwards as Mr. Rusty, the operator of the Magic Roundabout. *John Krasinski as Mr. Grimsdale, a baker who often delivers baked goods around the village, as well as candy, fruits, and vegetables. *Nicolas Cantu as Basil, a human boy who is one of Florence's friends. *Ava Acres as Coral, a human girl who is one of Florence's friends. *Emily Blunt as the McDonald's cashier from the train chase scene. **Blunt also voices the female guard who is hired by Zebedee to guard Zeebad's prison cell in the mid-credits scene. *Jim Cummings as the Skeleton Lord, the captain of the Skeleton Guards. *Eric Bauza as Eric the Skeleton Guard, one of the two Skeleton Guards that guard the front entrance of the jungle temple. *Tom Kenny as Frank the Skeleton Guard, one of the two Skeleton Guards that guard the front entrance of the jungle temple. *Dee Bradley Baker, Eric Bauza, Bob Bergen, Jim Cummings, Cory Edwards, Bill Farmer, Tom Kenny, John Krasinski, D.A. Nichols, Rob Paulsen, Abbey Thickson, and Frank Welker as Skeleton Guards, skeletons who are the guards of the jungle temple. French version *TBA as Pollux (Dougal) *TBA as Margote (Florence) *TBA as Ambroise (Brian) *TBA as Flappy (Dylan) *TBA as Azalée (Ermintrude) *TBA as Zébulon (Zebedee) *TBA as Zabadie (Zeebad) *TBA as Soldat Sam (Soldier Sam) *TBA as Train *TBA as Élan (Moose) *TBA as Mr. Rusty *TBA as Mr. Grimsdale *TBA as Basilic (Basil) *TBA as Corail (Coral) *TBA as Travailleur des chemins de fer (Railroad Worker) *TBA as Caissier McDonald (McDonald's Cashier) *TBA as Garde féminine (Female Guard) *TBA as Le Seigneur Squelette (The Skeleton Lord) *TBA as Eric le garde-squelette (Eric the Skeleton Guard) *TBA as Frank le garde-squelette (Frank the Skeleton Guard) *TBA as Gardes-squelettes (Skeleton Guards) Additional voices *Stephen Apostolina *Kirk Baily *John Bruno *Darcy Rose Byrnes *June Christopher *Brian T. Delaney *Robin Atkin Downes *Grant George *Jessica Gee-George *Kerry Gutierrez *Bridget Hoffman *Rif Hutton *Donna Lynn Leavy *Caitlin McKenna *Scott Menville *Jessica Pennington *Jacqueline Pinol *Michelle Ruff *Justin Shenkarow *Keith Silverstein *Dennis Singletary *Warren Sroka *Kelly Stables *Fred Tatasciore *Kirk Thornton *Kari Wahlgren *Lynnanne Zager Production Development Plans for a sequel to the 2005 Magic Roundabout film were planned by Action Synthese, but it was canceled when they went bankrupt due to the box office failure of TWC’s 2006 Americanized edition of the first Magic Roundabout film, which was revealed to be rewritten by Cory Edwards without Butch Hartman’s consent in November 2017. Later in June 2011, Abbey Thickson confirmed that the canceled sequel would be reworked into a reboot/remake of the original 2005 film. Pre-production for the film began the following month, with Nichols and Thickson producing it. Butch Hartman and Cory Edwards later confirmed that they were returning to write the screenplay, with Hartman replacing Briticisms with American expressions for the U.S./Canada version (the British and French versions of this film will contain their original British and French lines of dialogue and therefore take Hartman’s name off the poster and credits) and Edwards writing the cultural references. The U.S. distributor of Doogal, The Weinstein Company (now Lantern Entertainment as of July 16th, 2018), was confirmed not to be behind the reboot. According to TWC's president David Glasser, the company was not given the option of working on the film and were already busy distributing the film Spy Kids: All the Time in the World through their Dimension Films label when it was announced. It was announced on July 3, 2011, that Sony Pictures Releasing would distribute the reboot through TriStar Pictures. In March 2012, it was announced that The Magic Roundabout had gone back into development with an unknown release date. The film went through several script revisions until May 4, 2013, when it was announced that the new Magic Roundabout film would use the same storyline from the original 2005 film with some changes to make it more appealing to children as well as adults while staying true to the latter. The script was completed on May 20, 2013. On January 2, 2020, NicThic Productions was acquired by Fredbear Studios Casting Coming soon! Animation The majority of the film will be animated in the United States by NicThic Cinemation Studios in collaboration with Fredbear Animation Studios’ Computer Graphics Department in CGI, while Zebedee's nightmare sequence, Zeebad's backstory sequence, the map sequence, the flashback sequences, and Dougal's nightmare sequence will be animated by Duncan Studio in 2D hand-drawn animation. During production on the film, Action Synthese, that was about to file for bankruptcy and then shut down, agreed to let them use the CGI designs of the characters as long as they designed them to better appeal to newer children. Music On March 22, 2019, it was announced that John Debney and Mark Thomas will be composing the score. Release This film will premiere in theaters in the U.S. and Canada on October 16th, 2020 by Fredbear Studios as The Magic Carousel: Doogal Returns as well as in the United Kingdom and France on September 18th, 2020 by Max Andrew Distribution as The Magic Roundabout: The Return of Dougal and Pollux 2020: Le Manège Enchante. Home media Coming soon! Reception Box office Coming soon! Critical response Coming soon! Comparison with the 2005 film The reboot has new scenes and some old ones that were longer than the original. The American/Canadian version of this film will also include all lines from Butch Hartman’s mature Americanized dialogue of the original 2005 film for the first time. List of comparisons coming soon! Trivia Coming soon! Category:Films